It's up to Gerrit Cole to become a postseason hero

Good morning, I'm Dan Gartland. I still don't think the Yankees will make the comeback, but at least the World Series won't be a blast. That's always a disappointing end to a season.

In today's SI:AM:

👏 Anthony Volpe's dream night
🔥 Luke Weaver does it again
🏈 The Colts' tough QB decision

Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night was all about Anthony Volpe. The New York Yankees shortstop, who grew up in the Tri-State area and idolized Derek Jeter, gave his team a 5-2 lead with a dramatic grand slam in the third inning that gave the Yankees another day ahead.

Volpe, a light-hitting, glove-first shortstop who was at the bottom of the order, was an unexpected hero. But if the Yankees want to force a Game 6 and send the series back to Los Angeles, it's no secret who has to be the key.

Gerrit Cole will start Game 5 for New York on Wednesday night, while the Los Angeles Dodgers will field trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty. Cole was worth every penny of the nine-year, $324 million contract the Yankees signed before the 2020 season. He is one of only five MLB pitchers with at least 900 strikeouts over the last five seasons and is the reigning AL Cy Young winner.

But Cole has yet to have a standout postseason performance in the pinstripe jersey. His best playoff start for the Yankees came in the 2020 wild-card game in an empty stadium in Cleveland, when he had 13 strikeouts in seven innings while allowing two runs in a 12-3 blowout win. In the wild card game the following year, he didn't even get out of the third inning as the Yankees were eliminated by the Boston Red Sox. In 2022, he earned two big wins in the ALDS, but allowed five runs in just over five innings in Game 3 of the ALCS en route to a series win against the Houston Astros (his former team).

Given that this is the Yankees' first World Series appearance in 15 years, it goes without saying that Cole hasn't appeared in a game this big since leaving the Astros. The chances of a comeback from a 3-0 deficit are still slim, but it has to start with Cole keeping a potent Los Angeles offense in check and going deep enough to face an 11th-seeded Yankees bullpen has thrown ⅓ innings to give him some breathing room the last two nights.

Cole is part of a dying breed. There aren't many true top pitchers these days – the kind of starters who are capable of going deep into a game on a regular basis. (He is one of only five pitchers (with multiple 200-inning seasons over the past five years.) And if New York wants to keep its Game 5 hopes alive, manager Aaron Boone may need to give Cole a longer leash than he was given in Game 1.

Cole pitched well in the series opener, allowing one run on four hits and four strikeouts in six innings. So it was a bit of a surprise that Boone pulled Cole after allowing a leadoff single to Teoscar Hernández to start the seventh. Cole, who had thrown 88 pitches, had already gotten out of trouble in the previous inning against the most dangerous part of the Dodgers lineup, allowing a leadoff double to No. 9 hitter Tommy Edman before retiring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to preserve the Yankees' 2-1 lead.

Clay Holmes replaced Cole and hit the first batter he faced with a pitch. A sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third before Holmes retired Will Smith on an infield pop-up, after which Boone brought in Tommy Kahnle to get the final out of the inning.

I turned to two of New York's three best starting bullpen arms, who ultimately came back to bite the Yankees in the 10-inning loss. If Cole is as strong in Game 5 as he was Friday, will the Yankees trust him to pitch in the seventh inning? If he leaves the game before then, that probably means the champagne is already on ice in the visiting clubhouse.

…things I saw last night:

5. Freddie Freeman's record breaker sixth consecutive World Series game with a homer.
4. Luka Dončić's clutch dagger out of Away Downtown.
3. The reception The wild goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury came in his last game in Pittsburgh.
2. Argentine football club River Plate's epic performance for a Copa Libertadores game.
1. The Serbian, French and Japanese calls by Anthony Volpe's Grand Slam.